Why Programs Fail: Lessons for Improving Public Service Quality from a Mixed-Methods Evaluation of an Unsuccessful Teacher Training Program in Nepal

Julie Schaffner, Paul Glewwe and Uttam Sharma

No 316663, Staff Papers from University of Minnesota, Department of Applied Economics

Abstract: Using a randomized control trial embedded within a mixed-methods evaluation, we find that an at-scale government teacher training program, of a common but seldom-evaluated form, has little or no impact on student learning. We then document five challenges that the policy’s design failed to address, related to: oversight of training sessions, school-level difficulties in releasing teachers for training (lack of substitute teachers), deficits in teachers’ subject knowledge, deficits in teachers’ post-training accountability and support, and students’ needs for differentiated instruction. We discuss implications for the literatures on teacher training program design and on good governance for public service provision.

Keywords: Community/Rural/Urban Development; Public Economics; Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 49
Date: 2021-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ags:umaesp:316663

DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.316663

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